Author: Patricegotting

Today I am on the tour for The Midnight Of Eights by Justin Newland and I have a promo for you.

Pages: 288

Synopsis: 1580.

Nelan Michaels docks at Plymouth after sailing around the world aboard the Golden Hind. He seeks only to master his mystical powers – the mark of the salamander, that mysterious spirit of fire – and reunite with his beloved Eleanor.

After delivering a message to Francis Walsingham, he’s recruited into the service of the Queen’s spymaster, where his astral abilities help him to predict and thwart future plots against the realm.

But in 1588, the Spanish Armada threatens England’s shores.

So how could the fledgling navy of a small, misty isle on the edge of mainland Europe repulse the greatest fleet in the world?

Was the Queen right when she claimed it was divine intervention, saying, ‘He blew with His winds, and they were scattered!’?

Or was it an entirely different intervention – the extraordinary conjunction of coincidences that Nelan’s astral powers brought to bear on that fateful Midnight of Eights?

About The Author:

JUSTIN NEWLAND’s six novels represent an innovative blend of genres from historical adventure to supernatural thrillers and magical realism. 

Author, speaker and broadcaster, Justin gives historical talks and radio interviews. 

In a previous life, he gained a Ph.D. in Mathematics, but now he lives with his partner in plain sight of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England.

If you like the sound of this it can be bought here!

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Today I am on the tour for Mother Daughter by Anya Mora, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 209

Synopsis: My teenage daughter is missing . . . and it’s my fault.

THE DAUGHTER
I thought I loved him. That it would end in some sort of happily ever after. That the conversations that brought us together were signs. Like this was one of the miracles Mom always talked about.
But they weren’t signs at all.
They were warnings.
“I don’t want to die,” I plead, his hands wrapped around my neck. Squeezing tight. His eyes are like the ocean, dark and deep, but I don’t want to drown.
I want to breathe. This can’t be how my life ends; before it ever really began.

THE MOTHER
Now, I look through the backdoor window, wanting a clue of where she might be. I was up early this morning trying to get some writing done, I didn’t hear her in the house at all . . . which means she must have left sometime in the night?
I have kept my past a secret, but right now I wish Maple understood just how dangerous the world can be.

My Thoughts: Firstly can we just talk about this cover? – I don’t know what it is about it, but even looking at it made me feel uneasy. Which I guess is a good thing because it kind of sets the tone for the whole book!

This one was brilliant, it was creepy and had some real edge of your seat moments but yet felt almost realistic at the same time, which is scary in itself!

We know very early on that the mother is keeping secrets from everyone, whilst also telling them all the truth by writing her life story as fiction.. so when her daughter goes missing without a trace, she just feels like it’s history repeating itself.. but is she thinking too hard?

When I tell you I couldn’t put this down I am not exaggerating, I refused to move until it was finished.. and the best bit? I didn’t work out the twist!

Full of suspense all the way through I sometimes even had to remind myself to breath!

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Today i am on the tour for About Last Night by Christy McKellen, thank you to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 186

Synopsis: Keeping it strictly professional…

Radio DJ Lula Lazenby isn’t often lost for words, but this time she’s speechless! The man she just shared an exquisite one night with turns out to be her new boss…and his first job is to fire her!

Executive Tristan Bamfield wasn’t planning to stay in London long. Turn up, handle his father’s business and leave. But his inconvenient and instantaneous attraction to Lula has really gone and complicated things!

Tristan is a professional and everyone deserves a second chance – especially when you can’t escape the red-hot memories so he quickly reinstates Lula. Until that leads to weeks of tantalizing torture working with Lula in the studio. Tristan’s not here for a happy ever after, but his challenge now is going to be figuring out how to keep their off-the-charts attraction under wraps until it’s time to leave.

My Thoughts: this is everything you want in a romance, it’s fun, it’s flirty, it’s spicy and it really draws you in.

We’re following Lula, who is on the verge of losing her job, she goes out with a friend to drown her sorrows and chat and she bumps into Tristan, a bloke who’s not from there he’s travelling for work.. she realises the perfect way to let loose is to pretend to be someone else for a night & have a bit of no strings attached fun with him..

All fun and games until you realise the next day at the meeting that he is the bloke who literally holds your future in his hands!

This one proved entirely impossible to put down I was invested in it from all angles, would Lula get to keep her job? would her sleazebag of a boss get his comeuppance? Would Tristan’s apologies work?

I really loved the fact that there was no dragging out certain elements of the story, the book itself is less than 200 pages, so everything happened pretty quickly but not unrealistically.

This book may be spicy, but it was also incredibly cute & had me saying “aww” more than once.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, devoured it in one sitting and I am eagerly awaiting what Christy comes out with next!

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Today I am on the tour for Cosy Nights and Snowball Fights by Rosie Green, thank you to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 179

Synopsis: As the nights draw in, gingerbread lattes and festive hot chocolates are on the menu, and the Little Duck Pond Café girls are gearing up for the cosiest time of the year. But new recruit Laurel just wishes she could sleep through the whole jolly affair! It might be October, but she’s still haunted by the events of last Christmas. Could a new start in Sunnybrook help to heal her heart?

My Thoughts: as seems to be standard with me at the minute this is the first book by Rosie that I’ve read but is actually book 36 in the Little Duck Pond Cafe series!

Cosy romance seems to be a genre I’m reaching for a lot recently & this one didn’t let me down.

We’re following Laurel who after a really difficult breakup, escapes to Sunnybrook in the hopes of a new start, but in her mind this fresh start means keeping herself to herself, not allowing anyone in or close & just getting through each day.

However the residents of Sunnybrook manage to get behind her defences a little and envelop her within the fold, which is what Laurel has needed for a while,

Josh is just an absolute sweetheart, oh he made me swoon and feel all warm inside, which baffles me since his big sweep her off her feet moment involved snow 😂

This was a lovely read & although it ended in a HEA it wasn’t always an easy read.

I probably didn’t appreciate some of it as much as the readers who have been there from the start but this just makes me more determined to read the series in its entirety at some point.

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Today i am on the tour for A Christmas Wish On Arran by Ellie Henderson, thank you to Hannah at Hygge Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the publisher and the author for my copy.

Pages: 269

Synopsis: This Christmas, can Beth and Callum find the second chance they need?

When Beth Ferguson’s journalism career in London ends in tatters just before Christmas, she’s offered a new start as the local reporter on the Isle of Arran.

The only problem? Returning to the place where she first met Callum. Her first love. The man who broke her heart.

Arriving as the close-knit community prepares for their Christmas festivities, Beth soon reconnects with Arran’s magic. But when she bumps into Callum — who is just as gorgeous as she remembers — it’s their shared past that pulls at her heartstrings.

It’s not just Beth whose heart broke that day 25 years ago. Callum, now a single parent to teenager Daisy, has never forgotten Beth, the ‘one who got away’.

Despite the time apart, the more Beth and Callum try to ignore their chemistry, the more it reignites the flame between them. And when Beth needs a shoulder to cry on, it’s Callum who shows her that time and distance can’t change what the heart reallywants.

Perhaps they are both about to discover the season of second chances and a Christmas to remember.

My Thoughts: I absolutely adore a small town Christmas romance, and this one had everything in it that I loved and more!

We’re following Beth, who has moved back to the Isle of Arran after her life in London didn’t go to plan, she moves in with her dad temporarily at his retirement complex, but then ends up back on the Isle of Arran where she grew up ready to take a job as a reporter for the local paper, she soon realises that Callum, the boyfriend she had her life planned out with all those years ago before he shattered her heart still lives there, not only that but he also has a daughter..

Callum is a perfect gentlemen, he’s single handedly raising a teenager, which has challenges but he’s always there for her when he needs her. You can imagine he got the shock of his life when a face from his past reappears after a quarter of a century.

This story did a very good job of weaving their past and present together whilst focussing on the future they both wanted, it wasn’t a easy road to get there and they both had to confront some hard truths.

Although parts of this book were a tough read, even making me tear up a little, the overall feel of the book was heartwarming and absolutely beautiful.

This is actually part of a series, but I’ll be honest I haven’t read the other ones and it did read perfectly fine as a stand alone, I will definitely be going back to read the previous books at some point.

A lovely cosy romance that was so easy to lose yourself in.

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Today I am on the tour for Me There With You Then by Edie D. Browning, thank you to Hannah at Hygge Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 225

Synopsis: Where’s home when you’re torn between two loves, two countries, and two lives?

What begins as a carefree getaway from Helsinki to Stockholm with her best friend Marja quickly transforms into a life-altering journey when Louise meets Mat, a captivating stranger whose warmth and charm ignite an unexpected connection. As their bond deepens into a passionate affair that defies borders, Louise is thrust into a whirlwind romance that challenges everything she thought she knew about love. Meanwhile, back in Ireland, her on-again, off-again boyfriend Sean has a dramatic revelation: Louise is his one true love—and he’s coming to Finland to win her back.
With Marja by her side, navigating the turbulent waters of love and loyalty should be straightforward. Yet as Louise stands at the crossroads between a thrilling future with Mat and the comfort of a familiar but unfulfilling past with Sean, the decision proves anything but easy.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this look at Louise’s life before the events in the first book, it showed the emotional turmoil she went through regarding Mat and Sean, the thoughts, feelings and events all felt so real, the story really pulls you in and doesn’t let go!

It honestly had me feeling a whole load of different emotions, one minute i was laughing, the next I was furious and then within a couple of pages I’d be crying, it takes a real skill for an author to be able to make their reader feel things so deeply that they have a physical response.

The characters are relatable because they’re all flawed which I really appreciated, nobody is perfect, not even fictional characters.

I know I haven’t really told you much about the storyline & I’ve just focussed on how the book made me feel, that’s been done on purpose, you’ll just have to trust me and give this one a go.

I can’t wait to see what Edie comes up with next time.

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Today I am on the tour for A Winter Wedding At Primrose Hall by Jill Steeples, thank you to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 269

Synopsis: As the year draws to an end at Primrose Hall, Pia and her Lord of the Manor fiancé Jackson are putting the finishing touches to their annual Carols by Candlelight evening.

The past twelve months have not all been plain sailing – Jackson’s father Rex had a serious health scare, his long-lost brother Tom appeared unannounced, and Jackson himself had his own disaster. So the family are thrilled to finally be able to look forward to Christmas together and the event of the year – Jackson and Pia’s long-awaited wedding.

With the idyllic backdrop of Primrose Woods, the dream venue, and a community ready to celebrate with them, Pia and Jackson are counting the days until they are husband and wife. Now they just need to cross their fingers that the dramas of the previous year are all behind them…

My Thoughts: I’ll be honest this is the first book that I’ve read in this series and I’ve just found out that this is also the last 🤣

That being said although I didn’t get the back story of the characters, I didn’t feel lost at any point, Jill has done a good job of summarising past events within the writing.

We’re following Pia and Jackson whilst they prepare for their wedding & I got the feeling that it was a long road to get there.

The descriptions in this book were beautiful and very detailed which left me as the reader able to picture the surroundings easily feel almost thrown into it.

Not only is this book filled with love, but we see some familiar connections being remade as everyone gets ready for Christmas and ready for a fresh start.

It gives a really sense of community and how they all pull together when it matters.

I’d love to go back and start the series from the beginning at some point as I feel I’d be able to appreciate everything that happened so much more.

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Today I am on the tour for the J Alfred Prufrock Murders By Corinne Holt Sawyer, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 297

Synopsis: Four bright, lively and stubborn septuagenarians are stirred into action by an unexpected death in their retirement community.

Angela Benbow and Caledonia Wingate and two reluctant pals in their retirement community shrug off their infirmities and take to the investigative trail when one of their own, a not-so-sweet busybody named “Sweetie”, is found murdered on the beach.

The four not-so-gentle ladies realise what the young investigating officer has trouble accepting – that even the most seemingly docile among them may be provoked into taking a life, even a series of lives, if the pleasure of the time they have left is threatened

My Thoughts: this book provided just what I needed at the time, a break from romance.. but it also wasn’t a heavy thriller that requires a lot of thought.

It’s a fun cozy mystery centred around a retirement home and a group of old ladies who believe they have what it takes to get to the bottom of a murder within their community, after all the officer in charge is young and looking in all the wrong places!

Angela and Caledonia actually started to feel like friends, I wanted to join them for a cup of tea and go over the case with them.

Plenty of laugh out loud moments to ease the tension that was created between some of the characters.

All of the characters within the story had parts of their personality that they knew wasn’t liked by everyone, but in their eyes, they’re old and stubborn and not likely to change to fit someone else’s narrative! – it made the story feel more believable, I was honestly hooked on not only the storyline but finding out more about the characters lives.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and it’s reawakened my love for a genre that I stopped gravitating towards.

I cannot wait to continue on with the series.

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Today I am on the tour for The Girl Who Killed Her Mom by McGarvey Black, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy

Pages: 316

Synopsis: I was barely fifteen when I killed my mom. No one knew . . . until now.

I’ve spent my entire life trying to make up for what happened that day. I’ve turned my life around. I have a handsome, wealthy husband; two daughters who are everything to me; a stunning Connecticut beachfront home. I’m grateful for every minute that we have together.

Today I come home to find a silver-and-blue gift-wrapped box on the porch. The note inside says: Who killed Midge Lester?

Midge Lester was my mom.

Someone knows.

My Thoughts: I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this one, after all the title gives away what would typically be the twist in a psychological thriller… that being said I knew there had to be more and I was intrigued enough to give it a go.

I’m really glad I did, I was gripped from the start. The writing is really gripping & slightly eery the age difference between Abigail and Travis did make me feel slightly uncomfortable to begin with, but it did eventually become ‘normal’ I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not 🤣

Years later, Abby has tried to move on from that horrible day when she was 15, she’s married now with 2 girls and Travis is dead, he’s the only witness to her crime so she’s high and dry.. or so she thinks.

Before long people from her past start showing up and all of Abby’s tightly woven lies start unravelling, she no longer knows who she can trust.

I absolutely devoured this book, it was all I could concentrate on and it totally consumed it! I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be picking up more from this author in the future.

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Today I am on the tour for The One That Got Away by Olivia Spring, thank you to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 306

Synopsis: What if the one who got away is really the one?

When Stella finds herself back home with a string of disastrous dates under her belt, she’s certain she’s hit rock bottom. Until she discovers her mother has signed her up to The Love Hotel: a luxury matchmaking service where a perfect love match is guaranteed! Stella is adamant she’ll have nothing to do with this nonsense! But then a match is found faster than she can say ‘Not. A. Chance!’ So, how bad can two weeks in the scorching Spanish sunshine be?

Very bad, actually. Because when Stella arrives, she’s mortified to learn her date is no perfect stranger. In fact she knows him a little too well. Because Max is the childhood sweetheart who broke her heart, who her heart remembers and who is more gorgeous than ever.

With no refunds, Stella reluctantly decides to stay and enjoy the holiday – all she has to do is keep Max at an arm’s length…right? Easier said than done when Max is impossible to ignore. And as the Love Hotel begins to work its matchmaking magic, Stella can’t deny that the sparks still sizzle between them. And maybe, the experts were right after all…

My Thoughts: I went into this one completely blind, I was attracted to the cover and assumed by the title that it would be a second chance romance, a bit of lighthearted reading & in a way I was right.. but what I didn’t expect was alll the spice! 🌶️🥵 – it sounds weird to write this but it was a pleasant surprise, and added a totally different dynamic to the story 🤣

We’re following Stella and Max, they have both been bullied into going to the Love Hotel a place that promises to set you up with your soul mate, with the help of your dedicated Love Alchemist.

They both go begrudgingly with half open minds, but what they don’t expect is to run into the person who shattered their respective hearts years ago!

I was so invested in this story that Stella and Max felt like friends, I wasn’t even necessarily rooting for one over the other I loved them both equally & just wanted them to sort their shit out 😅

I laughed out loud more than once and found myself with my head in my hands, absolutely mortified for them because you just couldn’t make it up (daft thing to say about a book I know..)

There were parts of this book that made my heart melt & plenty of swoon worthy moments too!

It had everything you could want from a spicy romcom and more!

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